


Closer Than This

by Ivrigasked



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fae & Fairies, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Phichit is so done with their crap, Realm Hopping, Victor is charming AF, Yuri Plisetsky is a Brat, Yuuri is kind of pretentious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-10
Packaged: 2018-11-11 14:57:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11150796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivrigasked/pseuds/Ivrigasked
Summary: “What happened?!” Minako practically yells, throwing her hands up in the air.“We just went for a minute, we weren’t there for more than 15 minutes, I swear.”“That’s not what I meant Phichit. Why is Yuuri behaving this way?”“He met a guy.”“And? Human men are boring and unoriginal.”“This one was different. He looked ethereal. He looked other-worldly. He was magnificent.” Yuuri tells her, quietly spinning in circles around the room.“Oh no. No no. This is not good.” Minako says, running her hands through her long brown hair, a frown creasing her face.“What is it?” Phichit asks her.“Yuuri is falling for a human.”





	1. Before The Dive

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! & Welcome to another one of my Yuri on Ice fics.  
> I say another because I have a problem and this is my fourth one. 
> 
> These first few chapters are really short and I apologize for that, but the ones to come will be much longer, I assure you!  
> I just wanted to post this and get a feel for how people would react to yet another, mystical creature AU. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“I’m bored. Can we go to Earth’s realm and play with the humans?” Phichit sighs, bending backwards off the chair he’s barely occupying. 

“No, Phich. We can’t. You know Minako said that fraternizing with humans is not allowed.” Yuuri explains, frowning at his friend. 

“You’re the most boring prince we’ve ever had.” 

“That’s not true. I heard that when my father was still the prince, he hardly left the castle.” Yuuri argues. 

“You hardly leave the castle.” Phichit retorts. 

“I have social anxiety.” 

“You’re a _prince_!” Phichit shouts, finally falling ungracefully to the floor. 

“You’re annoying!” Yuuri laughs. 

“Can we please go? We’ve nothing else to do today.” Phichit asks again, rising from the floor and sitting up straight in the chair opposite Yuuri’s. 

“You, have nothing else to do today. I have, duties, or something.” Yuuri explains, waving a hand. 

“No you don’t.” Phichit scoffs and Yuuri rolls his eyes,

“You know what, fine. If we go will you shut up?” 

“Yes.” 

“A half hour.” 

“That’s not nearly enough time to wreak havoc.” 

“That is _not_ what we do.” 

“It’s what _I_ do.”

“You’re going to be the death of me.” 

“Probably.” He shrugs.“Anyway, come on!” Phichit jumps up and grabs Yuuri’s hand, pulling him toward the portal to Earth’s Realm. They breeze through quickly and find themselves in the middle of a thick forest, where Yuuri’s great grandparent’s had hidden the portal to their realm many years ago. The two begin walking, Yuuri’s long and shimmering gown picking up leaves and sticks as he strolls along. Soon enough, they reach the edge of the forest and emerge on a hilltop, overlooking a city. 

“Time to change.” Phichit breaks their comfortable silence, reminding Yuuri that they would look too other-worldly and out of place in their current appearances. “Fae features and shiny royal gowns can only get us so far in this life, Yuuri.” 

“Well, go on then.” Yuuri sighs, unexcited to see what human outfit Phichit picks for him today. With a wave of his hand, they begin to look more like humans - Phichit’s bright, glowing skin fades to a soft caramel color, and his golden robes transform into jeans, a baseball t-shirt and sneakers. He smiles at his handiwork and steps back to admire the work he’s done for Yuuri. Yuuri’s iridescent skin fades into a paler, yet somehow still flawless complexion, and his deep blue gown turns into jeans, a t-shirt, a hoodie, and sneakers. Phichit smiles but isn’t done yet. He places light, blue framed glasses on Yuuri’s face, and then nods, signaling that he’s finally finished. They look like a couple of regular young adults. 

“Why do you always put glasses on my face? I don’t need them.” Yuuri groans. 

“You’re too beautiful without them.” 

“Ugh, fine. Let’s go people-watch, or whatever it is that you like to do with these creatures.” 

“Why do you dislike them so much?” 

“Because they intentionally hurt one another, Phichit. They hurt one another and they feel no remorse. There is very little love in this realm, and even though it exists I have yet to see it.” 

“That’s deep. Too deep.” 

“You asked.” 

“Fair enough. Are you hungry? I could go for a cheeseburger.” Phichit giggles as they approach the city, spotting a restaurant on the corner of the street. 

“No, not for human food. I don’t understand how you could possibly eat it.” Yuuri groans again, unenthused and uninterested in spending any amount of time amongst humans. 

“You’ve only ever had bad experiences with it. That’s why you don’t like it.” Phichit shrugs as they slide into a booth. 

“I don’t enjoy much of what these people do, actually.” Yuuri explains, deadpan. 

“You know Yuuri, you’re so pretentious sometimes, have I ever told you that?” 

“Every day.” 

“Still not enough.” Phichit laughs. “You watch these people every day. What are you looking for?” 

“Something that will restore my faith in them.” Yuuri sighs again. Suddenly, two figures burst through the door of the restaurant but stop when they see Phichit and Yuuri, who are looking in their direction, confused. 

“Our booth is taken.” the shorter, angrier looking one says, tucking a stray piece of blonde hair behind his ear. 

“It’s not our booth just because we come here every day. There are other people in this town, Yuri.” the taller one explains. He’s clearly older than the other, his age showing in the way he speaks. 

“Yeah but…it’s our booth and everyone knows it. Clearly these punks, do not.” the small one speaks again. He begins to move swiftly toward where Yuuri and Phichit are sitting, but stops when the taller one places a hand on his shoulder. 

“We’ll sit somewhere else. Let them enjoy their food, Yura. Here,” He says, pointing to another booth closer to the door. “Sit.” the younger boy slides into the booth, facing away from them. The taller one doesn’t sit, but instead flips his silver hair from his face and makes his way over to Yuuri and Phichit, who say nothing when he stops beside their booth. 

“I’m sorry about him. We come here every day and normally this booth is available because we’re regulars. I understand that you’re either new to town or are just passing through so please forgive my brother, and allow me to pay for your lunch.” 

“That won’t be necessary. We were just leaving.” Yuuri says so quietly that it’s almost inaudible, looking down at his hands in his lap. 

“Yuuuuuri,” Phichit whines. “I haven’t even eaten.” 

“Please don’t leave on our account. My name in Victor, it’s nice to meet you. Yuuri, was it?” Victor extends a hand, and Yuuri hesitates but reaches out to shake it. When their hands meet, it feels as though an electrical charge runs through them and they both shudder. Yuuri, who finally lifts his gaze to meet Victor’s, shudders again when he sees his face. His features are perfect, as if crafted by the God’s from their realm. His silver hair is fine and shiny, appearing as though it would be incredibly soft to the touch. His eyes are a deep blue like the ocean, and like Yuuri’s own royal gowns. Yuuri gasps but says nothing, and Phichit giggles from where he's sitting across from them. 

“Wow, dude. I’ve never seen anyone get a look like that from Yuuri.” He laughs. They both ignore Phichit and continue to stare at each other, neither one speaking a word. “Guys, snap out of it.” 

“I-I’m sorry,” Victor stutters, finally letting go of Yuuri’s hand. “You’re just so beautiful.” 

“Oh no.” Phichit laughs, hiding his face in his hands.

“I could say the same about you.” Yuuri splutters. His gaze widens when a smile blooms across Victor’s face. 

“Oh, _no_.” Phichit repeats, this time sounding distressed. “We need to go.” 

“But you just said you haven’t eaten.” Yuuri says, not removing his gaze from Victor’s. 

“I’m not hungry any more. Yuuri, we need to go. Now.” Phichit begs, standing and pulling on Yuuri’s hands. 

“I’m sorry, did I do something?” Victor asks, confused and startled by Phichit’s reaction. 

“Buddy, you have no idea. Go be gorgeous somewhere else for a sec, would ya?” Phichit urges Victor to leave, and when he does, Yuuri still can’t take his eyes from him. Phichit struggles to pull Yuuri from the booth, but eventually has him following him out the door and onto the street. When they’re alone, Phichit claps his hands in front of Yuuri’s face. 

“Hey! Realm to Yuuri!” Yuuri shakes his head and rubs his eyes, pulling himself out of the haze. “What in the seven realms was that, man?” 

“I-I don’t know. He was, incredible. I have to see him again.” Yuuri says, walking back toward the door of the restaurant. 

“Oh no you don’t. We’re going to see Minako, right now.” Phichit pulls on Yuuri again, this time dragging him toward the forest; toward the portal. 

 

“What happened?!” Minako practically yells, throwing her hands up in the air. 

“We just went for a minute, we weren’t there for more than 15 minutes, I swear.” 

“That’s not what I meant Phichit. Why is Yuuri behaving this way?” 

“He met a guy.” 

“And? Human men are boring and unoriginal.” 

“This one was different. He looked ethereal. He looked other-worldly. He was magnificent.” Yuuri tells her, quietly spinning in circles around the room. 

“Oh no. No no. This is not good.” Minako says, running her hands through her long brown hair, a frown creasing her face. 

“What is it?” Phichit asks her. 

“Yuuri is falling for a human.” 


	2. The Winds of Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just simply could not wait to post this chapter because I'm just all too excited to write and share this fic.   
> I love it so far and I hope you do too. 
> 
> Unfortunately, this is another short one, but hopefully as we delve deeper into this story these chapters will get longer. *fingers crossed*
> 
> Originally, this fic was something for me to get out of my writers block, and it's working! So bear with me through the short, thousand word chapters and with some time and patience we should be seeing those longer ones soon. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

That afternoon in Earth’s realm, Victor and Yuri find themselves walking through the streets of downtown, Yuri scowling and Victor panicking over how me might be able to find the strange, yet mysteriously wonderful man from the restaurant. 

“Are you sure you didn’t see where he went?” Victor asks Yuri, bringing a finger up to his lips in deep concentration. 

“No, I didn’t. I hardly even noticed them leaving at all.” Yuri mumbles. 

“You’re very little help today, Yura.” 

“I’m very helpful with things I actually care about, Vitya. This, is not one of those things.” 

“He was absolutely stunning. It’s almost hard to believe he actually exists. Have you ever seen a man so beautiful?” 

“Victor you’re out of your mind. Can we go home now?” 

“I have to find him.” 

“You don’t even know his last name. You don’t even know if he lives here. You don’t know _where_ he lives or where he’s from.” 

“Shh, shh. Have a little faith.” 

“Victor.” 

“What?” 

“Please don’t stalk him.” 

“I’m not going to stalk him!” Victor laughs nervously. “I just need to find out where he is and how to contact him, it’s no big deal.” 

“That’s the definition of stalking, Victor.” 

“Is it? Hmm.” Victor shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee, hopefully deterring Yuri from accusing him of anything else. 

The two walk in relative silence back to their apartment, and as soon as they enter, Yuri flops himself down onto the large gray sofa. 

“Going to call Otabek?” 

“Yeah, gotta get the rundown on what’s happening in New York. You know.”

“Right. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” Victor nods at him and exits down the hall toward his study. He shuts the door quietly behind him and runs his hands through his delicate silver hair. He lets out a long sigh as he sinks into his plush desk chair and switches on his computer. Once it loads, he pulls up the search engine and begins looking for all possible matches for the man he saw earlier that morning in the diner. He scans through several pages of men named Yuuri, but he comes up short. 

Feeling defeated, he rests his head in his hands and swivels around to look out the window of his tenth floor apartment in the center of downtown San Francisco. Victor has been in love before, with both men and women alike, but nothing has ever shaken him to the core in the same way that meeting Yuuri had. How could be possibly go about seeing him again? He needed to clear his head, and there was no better way to do that than to hang out with old friends. He pulls his phone from his pocket and begins typing out a text. 

 

[Victor Nikiforov - 1:17 pm]

Drinks?

 

[Christophe Giacometti - 1:19 pm] 

Oh no, what happened? 

 

[Victor Nikiforov - 1:23 pm] 

Drinks. 

 

[Christophe Giacometti - 1:35 pm] 

I’m in a meeting, otherwise 

you know I’d never turn down 

getting shit-faced with you. 

Are you okay? 

 

[Victor Nikiforov - 1:38 pm] 

Just call me when you’re done.

 

[Christophe Giacometti - 1:40 pm] 

-thumbs up-

 

 

Victor sighs and sets his phone down on his desk. He can’t shake the uneasy feeling mixed with utter joy that he’s been feeling all day. He decides to take a shower, and attempt to wash away all the worry and panic from the morning’s events. 

He strides into his bathroom, peeling off his clothing as he walks. He turns the shower on and steps underneath the warm cascade of water. However; the shower is giving him the opposite effect of what he desired. It’s giving him time to think, and even more time to panic. What if he never finds Yuuri? What if he never sees him again and the one person who could make his heart want to jump out of his body becomes the one that got away? He should have asked him for his phone number. Damn it. He really needs Chris to settle his racing mind, and an entire handle of expensive vodka to settle his racing heart. 

 

When Victor steps from the shower, his phone begins to ring. He picks it up, not recognizing the number. 

“Hello, this is Victor?” he gets nothing but silence from the other line. “Hello?” still nothing. Confused, he hangs up the phone and checks for messages from Chris. Hopefully the meeting doesn’t last for more than another half hour, because he isn’t sure he’s going to last that long. He wanders into the living room, where Yuri is still talking gleefully with Otabek on the phone. It’s past 2 o’clock, so it has to be nearing dinner time on the Eastern coast. Without trying, Victor overhears part of their conversation from the kitchen, where he sits, playing on his phone, trying to distract himself. 

“You wouldn’t believe it, Beka. The look the guy had on his face. It’s like he’d never seen another human before in his life. It completely swept Victor off his feet. I haven’t ever seen him like this, he’s losing his goddamn mind.” There’s a pause. “No, he was totally normal. Just an average, dime-a-dozen Japanese guy. He wasn't particularly gorgeous, I’d say.” Another pause. “I don't know dude, but Victor is losing his shit over this guy. He’s convinced he’s going to be able to find him, by only knowing his first name and what he looks like.” 

Victor sighs again, frustrated by Yura’s skepticism, and rests his face against the cold marble countertop. Now he’s just intentionally listening, not caring what he hears. 

“Of course I want to help him, but I don't know how. I don’t know anything about the guy, if anything I know less than Victor does.” A pause. “You’d really do that? I know it’s asking a lot.” Victor perks up. Otabek is a computer science wizard, and could probably find anyone in the world in a matter of seconds, even given the smallest amount of information. Victor rises from the stool he’d been occupying and decides to join Yura on the couch, who’s forced to sit up when Victor goes to sit down. “Okay, see you soon. Bye.” 

“What was that?” 

“Beka said he’ll help us find your mystery man. He’s flying into San Fran tonight so he’ll do the research on the plane and tell us what he finds when he gets here later.” Yuri tells him. 

“Thank you so much, Yura. I can’t tell you what it means to me.” Victor can almost feel himself tearing up, and he isn’t sure why. 

“You’ve never been this way about someone, Victor. I’ll do whatever I can to put you back to normal so you’ll stop irritating me.” 

“That was almost sweet.” 

“Don’t push it.” Yuri punches Victor in the arm, trying to hide a smile. 

“I’m going out for drinks with Chris later, are you gonna be okay by yourself?” 

“I’m not a baby.” 

“That isn't what I said.” 

“Whatever, yeah. Just be back by ten, that’s when Beka should be getting in and then you’ll know more about your pretty boy.” Yuri rolls his eyes. Victor smiles fondly at his brother, who’s always cared, but never seemed to want to. As Victor begins to get lost in thought, his phone buzzes in his pocket. 

 

[Christophe Giacometti - 2:23 pm] 

Ready? 

 

[Victor Nikiforov - 2:25 pm] 

Absolutely. Meet you at Rickhouse?

 

[Christophe Giacometti - 2:30 pm] 

Deal, see you shortly. 

 

Later that evening, Chris and Victor are walking back to Victor’s apartment, Chris’s arm draped playfully over Victor’s shoulder. 

“You’ll find him, buddy. If he’s meant to be in your life, he will be.” 

“Don’t get philosophical on me, Chris.” 

“I’m just saying,” he hiccups. “I bet he’s frantically trying to find you too.” 

“I doubt it, he looked frightened by me.” 

“You told me he called you beautiful.” 

“He did.” 

“Then what are you even saying? You’re a charmer, I’m sure he saw your perfect teeth when you smiled and fell for you instantly.” 

“I hope you’re right. I hope Otabek found him.” 

“For your sake, me too.” they both laugh. Victor practically drags Chris up the stairs at the entrance of his building and finds it a much easier task to actually get him into the elevator. They enter Victor’s apartment a few minutes later and Otabek and Yuri are talking quietly at the kitchen counter. 

“Vitya.” Yuri sounds alarmed.

“Yura?” Victor asks, letting Chris slump onto the couch. 

“Otabek found your guy.” Yuri says hesitantly. Victor’s eyes widen and Chris perks up from the couch. 

“What?” Victor says. 

“What?” Chris repeats. 

“You might want to sit down.” Yuri tells him. 

“Oh boy.” Chris says, flopping backwards onto the pillows. Victor slowly makes his way to an empty barstool beside Otabek and his expression is grave. 

“Lay it on me.” Victor says, clasping his hands in front of him. 

“So, I found him, but it wasn’t easy. He doesn’t exactly live here.” Otabek starts. 

“What, like in San Francisco?” Victor asks. Otabek hesitates again. 

“Uh, no.” he and Yuri exchange a look. “Like Earth.” 

“I’m sorry, what?” Victor asks. 

“Yuuri is what humans might call,” he stops. “Fae.” 

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Yuuri isn’t from the realm that we call ‘Earth’. He’s from another place entirely. It’s hard to explain, especially to a human,” Otabek pauses. 

“I don’t care. Explain. Is he real?” Victor grabs Otabek’s hands. 

“Yes, he’s just as real as you or I, but he’s not human. Fae are magical creatures that live in a realm called Althea, parallel to this one. They can watch the humans and admire them, but fraternizing with them is forbidden. Yuuri never should have even been in that restaurant this morning.” Beka shakes his head, his gaze falling. 

“I don’t understand.” Victor gapes, frantic for information. Otabek takes a deep breath. 

“Many thousands of years ago, the humans and the fae coexisted between the realms, without boundaries or limitations. They would fall in love and have children, called halflings, who were half human and half fae, yet still possessed magical abilities. But the peace wouldn’t last. The humans became selfish and wanted the magic for themselves and started a war, so the King and Queen of Althea closed the portal to Earth, and since then, traveling between the worlds has been prohibited.” Otabek continues. 

“So you’re telling me that I’ll never see him again.” 

“It’s not very likely. I’m sure he got in a lot of trouble when he returned to the kingdom.” 

“How do you know all of this?” Victor probes. He needs answers. He needs a way. 

“Um,” Beka stutters, looking between Victor and Yuri. “I’m a halfling.” 

“I thought you said that traveling between the worlds was forbidden?” 

“It is, but it still happens. My mother was fae, and came to visit my father frequently. They fell in love and when my grandfather found out that my mother had been pregnant with a human’s child, he told her that she was never to see my father again or he would kill him. To this day I’ve never met my father and have no idea who he is.” 

“Wow. So you travel between the realms then?” 

“Not very often, but I’ll do it sometimes, when necessary.” 

“Otabek. You know I wouldn’t ask this of you unless I had no other choice.”

“What is it?” 

“Will you travel to Althea, find Yuuri, and tell him that I need to see him again?” 

“Traveling there won’t be difficult. Meeting with Yuuri might prove to be the challenge.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“He’s the prince.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayeee, thanks for reading.   
> If you're interested, you can follow me on Tumblr [here.](https://niki-katsudon.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Leave a kudos or a comment if you enjoyed! Thank you!! 
> 
> A


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